A 101-year-old Holocaust survivor, 87 years after his survival, observes that the contemporary world bears an unsettling resemblance to Nazi Germany of 1938.
Walter Bingham was 14 years old when Jewish businesses, shops, residences, and places of worship were targeted by Nazis and other Germans.
During Kristallnacht, also known as the “Night of Broken Glass,” Nazis torched over 1,400 synagogues, defaced thousands of Jewish-owned establishments, invaded Jewish apartments and residences, and desecrated Jewish religious artifacts, as documented by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Approximately 26,000 men, solely for being Jewish, were apprehended and confined in concentration camps.
Bingham, at 101 years old, asserts that the current atmosphere of anti-Jewish sentiment and actions following the Israel-Hamas war brings to mind those grim historical periods.
“We find ourselves in a period comparable to 1938, marked by the burning of synagogues and assaults on individuals in public,” he stated.
During Yom Kippur in October, a synagogue in Manchester endured a fatal terrorist attack when an assailant drove a vehicle into worshippers and stabbed victims outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation, resulting in the deaths of two Jewish men.
An establishment was also intentionally set on fire last year, an incident which the nation’s prime minister denounced as an antisemitic assault.
The Anti-Defamation League documented 9,354 antisemitic incidents throughout the United States in 2024 — representing a significant increase from 2023, a 344% rise over the last five years, and an 893% surge over the past decade.
“Antisemitism, in my opinion, will likely never completely vanish, as it serves as a perceived solution for all global misfortunes,” Bingham conveyed to The Associated Press.
He noted that experiencing today’s climate bears an unsettling resemblance to past events, yet he identifies a crucial distinction.
“Back then, the Jewish mindset was characterized by an apologetic approach,” Bingham clarified. “It was a plea of ‘Please do no harm to me, and I will do no harm to you.'”
“Today, thankfully, we possess a very robust state,” he asserted. “And while antisemitism continues to escalate, a Holocaust will not recur, because the state will ensure its prevention.”